“has been designed to help the citizens of this nation learn how to protect themselves and their families against all types of hazards…By reading and following the instructions in this guide you and your family can say, Yes, we are ready!”

As this is ostensibly the government’s baseline for judging whether citizens are “ready” for disasters, I thought I would read through the course material.Â After finishing it, I had two overall reactions:

1) there is a real need to review and refine what government authorities are telling the public about preparedness and what “we are ready” should mean for American citizens.

2) as part of that review process, it would be very useful for top federal (as well as state and local) emergency management officials to hold open forums — maybe using the “Are You Ready” class format somewhat along the lines of the Kansas City Medical Reserve Corps course writ large — in orderÂ to solicit questions and input about preparedness from Americans. These types of events would bring new attention to the subject as well as stimulate an important and overdue dialogue integrating the public in helping determine policy about public preparedness.

Learn about the hazards that may strike your community, the risks you face fromÂ these hazards, and your communityâ€™s plans for warning and evacuation. You canÂ obtain this information from your local emergency management ofï¬ce or yourÂ local chapter of the American Red Cross…

Ask local authorities about each possible hazard or emergency and use the worksheet that follows to record your ï¬ndings and suggestions for reducing yourÂ familyâ€™s risk…

There is a major problem here: the government is putting far too much of the onus on the public — telling citizens it is only their responsibility to ask rather than taking the initiative to inform them if it is that important. The fact is that in many parts of the nation (including here in New York) the average citizen cannot just contact the local emergency management office and get a hazard briefing. Further down in the same chapter, the public is also told to request information that is not fully accessible or available to them:

Ask local authorities about methods used to warn your community…

Ask local authorities about emergency evacuation routes…

Ask local ofï¬cials the following questions about your communityâ€™s disaster/emergency plans. Does my community have a plan? Can I obtain a copy?

The fact is that FEMA is recommending people undertake a time consuming and unfamiliar task that in many cases they actually will not be able to accomplish by themselves. Shouldn’t the government at all levels have more responsibility to take the initiative in communicating this the information to the community rather than wait until individual citizens contact them?

Ok, so how do you begin this discussion? I have an idea that was provoked by seeing the photos from this weekend’s Kansas City class: why not hold open public forums on preparedness? These national seminars would be coordinated with similar events run by state and local emergency managers. This would bring new attention to citizen readiness and provide the public with the opportunity to both ask questions and as importantly offer input. I think FEMA head Craig Fugate would do a terrific job of leading such forums as would a number of state and local officials.

As Tip O’Neill might have said, (almost) all disaster preparedness and response is local. But the federal government does have a significant role in public education, particularly when it comes to terrorism and major disasters. In fact, Homeland Security Janet Napolitano in a speech at Harvard University earlier this year made that point saying that Americans deserve a â€œclear appraisementâ€ of the terror threats, “because I believe the American people want, and deserve, candor about what we face.” That appraisement still needs to be delivered.Â National officials also have a megaphone and platform that is necessary to get the issue on the media and political agenda.

Whenever I attend local public events on preparedness, citizens always have specific questions about specific threats, evacuation plans, emergency communications that cannot be answered fully with general preparedness boilerplate. The fact is that government officials have not fully leveled with the public on preparedness, giving them all the information they need to be really prepared. Without having an open, interactive discussion we are not really going to make progress on really ‘getting informed’ or figuring out if “you [and I] are ready?” and what that means. I think a series of preparedness forums at a national and then state and local level would be very helpful as part of that process.

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7 responses so far ↓

Your review of the Are You Ready curriculum brings up an interesting point.

“Learn about the hazards that may strike your community, the risks you face from these hazards, and your communityâ€™s plans for warning and evacuation. You can obtain this information from your local emergency management ofï¬ce or your local chapter of the American Red Crossâ€¦”

Why would FEMA spend hundreds of millions of dollars on their Citizen Corps program, only to instruct Citizens to contact the Red Cross? Perhaps I’m off base about this, but I would think FEMA would want to publicize the Citizen Corps and the programs (CERT, MRC, VIPS, etc) that fall under the Citizen Corps umbrella.

I read a GAO report this past winter discussing the failures of the Citizen Corps and Ready program. I can summarize by saying “No one knows about Citizen Corps”

I worked closely with the volunteers of the Medical Reserve Corps of Greater Kansas City for three years, supporting them as a volunteer coordinator with Mid-America Regional Council from July 2007 until June 2010. In those three years, I witnessed a genuine passion for preparedness and a clear commitment by Medical Reserve Corps volunteers to help emergency management agencies, public health officials and other community partners prepare the residents of the Kansas City metro region.

You point out only a few of the limitations of the curriculum used for the FEMA IS-22 Are You Ready? course, and Iâ€™ve heard similar issues raised by MRC volunteer instructors. Perhaps most notable is that the curriculum was last revised in August 2004, pre-Katrina and only a few years post-9/11. In the six years since, the preparedness community has learned many lessons, significant changes have occurred in social networking and communications technologies, and our understanding of the sociology of disasters has improved. A revision to the curriculum is overdue.

A large-scale citizen engagement initiative, including a series of public forums as you suggest, could provide a solid starting point for revising the FEMA IS-22 Are You Ready? curriculum.

Lee-
I think it’s a good point. It would make sense for FEMA to highlight its Citizen Corps units as preparedness resources for the public. That’s particularly true since its the local Citizen Corps members who are doing many of the public presentations in the community. And, as you point out, there is a need to increase the visibility of Citizen Corps and its programs
-John

Charlie-
Thanks for your comment. I have been impressed from afar about the work of MRCKC. I would be curious to hear more of the input and suggestions from the volunteer instructors who are teaching the course about how it should be updated.
-John

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